


tomorrow, we'll try again

by lymoss33



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Cute Kids, F/M, Fluff, Mild Hurt/Comfort, alt canon, family fic, they're married and they have cute kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:47:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28141128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lymoss33/pseuds/lymoss33
Summary: The Lyman family has a movie night, but not all goes to plan.
Relationships: Josh Lyman & Donna Moss, Josh Lyman/Donna Moss
Comments: 8
Kudos: 30





	tomorrow, we'll try again

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys! I just started posting on here and writing and i'm really enjoying it. please let me know your thoughts in the comments :)
> 
> oh, also. i wrote this with the idea that josh and donna get together after the shooting and married fairly soon after. so that's the timeline for the whole thing :)

It was a relaxed evening in the Lyman household. The family of four had just finished eating the dinner that Donna had so lovingly prepared for them and decided on having a family movie night. Josh reveled in nights like this, now that he was allowed to have them far more often. The Bartlet administration had ended 6 months ago and so came an end to his reign as Deputy Chief of Staff and Donna’s as Deputy Press Secretary. They had both talked about what it was exactly that they wanted to do next. 

Donna had dozens of opportunities right out of the white house. Considering her outstanding work as Deputy Press Secretary, there were a lot of large media outlets that were dying for Donna to come on as a political commentator or news anchor. Josh constantly teased her and told her how amazing she looked on TV. However, Donna had more of an interest in finishing up her degree and deciding what to do from there. So she decided to take a few months to relax with her family and enroll in Georgetown next fall. 

Josh wasn’t sure if he wanted to go run another presidential campaign, work for the DNC, write a book, or whatever else he could think of doing that would keep him insufferably busy. All of it might have sounded good almost seven years ago, before he got shot and realized that the only reason he bothered waking up was for the woman he was now married to and had two beautiful children with. Suddenly, all the politics and power didn’t sound nearly as good as listening to his son and daughter debate what Disney movie they were going to watch that evening.

“Listen Maddie, I love you, but can we please not watch another princess movie tonight?” the six-year-old Ben ever-so-patiently asked with his almost 3-year-old sister.

“But Benny, I wanna watch pwincess ‘Rora again,” Madeleine pleaded with her big blue eyes. 

“Maddie, we watched that on Wednesday, we already know what happens. Let’s watch Monsters Inc. and laugh at the funny little green guy,” Ben reasoned.

“Uh uh, Benny. Monsters scare me,” Maddie said with the ever famous pout which she inherited from Donna. If Josh thought it was hard to say no to Donna when she made that face, he found it nearly impossible to say no to their sweet little daughter doing the same.

“I’ll hold your hand if you get scared, Mads. Or mommy or daddy can cuddle you,” Ben stated. The patience must have also been inherited from Donna.

“NO MONSTERS!” Maddie exclaimed, stomping her foot on the ground, with a temper and argumentative nature that has “Josh” written all over it.

“Fine,” Ben started, “let’s not watch Sleeping Beauty or Monsters Inc. Let’s pick out a different movie together.”

Ben walked over to Maddie, grabbed her little hand, and started walking slowly over to the shelves which had dozens of their movies on display for them to choose from.

Josh figured Ben had this one covered and walked into the kitchen to find his lovely wife finishing up the dishes in the sink. Josh walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her stomach, putting his chin on her shoulder and kissing her cheek softly.

“We made the most amazing kids in the world,” Josh gleams with a huge content smile on his face.

Donna hummed and turned around to face him.

“Yeah, we really did, didn’t we?” She says as she wraps her arms around his neck giving him a long but relaxed kiss.

Josh held Donna tightly to him for a few long seconds before he heard laughter coming from the living room.

“I guess they picked out our movie,” Josh mumbled against Donna’s lips.

Donna giggled softly and pulled away from Josh, still residing in his arms but looking into his eyes now.

“Promise me that when your mother gets here next month we will go out and watch a movie that’s meant for adults,” Donna teases.

“Oh, when my mother’s here next month I am going to take you out and do many, many things that are meant for adults,” Josh says as he wiggles his eyebrows at her suggestively.

Donna rolls her eyes and pushes him off of her gently. They walk back to the living room side by side to see what their children have come up with for movie night.

“Mom, Dad, Maddie and I have settled on what movie we’d like to watch tonight,” Ben says in an almost professional tone.

Donna can’t help but laugh a little bit. She often swears that Ben is a 30-year-old man trapped in a 6-year-old’s body. Josh and Donna sit side by side in the middle of the couch, saving a spot for one of their children to sit next to each of them.

“And what movie might that be, my dear son?” Josh asks Ben.

“Peter Pan!!” Madeleine exclaims, her blue eyes lit up with excitement.

“I figured it was the perfect compromise for Maddie and I. It’s not another princess movie and there’s a lot of boy action in it for me and Daddy,” Ben starts.

Donna lets out another little giggle at Ben’s explanation. “Boy action”? It’s moments like this that remind Donna that even though Ben is eerily similar to her, there is no doubt he is Josh’s son as well.

“But there’s also Tinkerbell, who is a pretty fairy which is kind of the same thing as a princess, so Maddie and Mommy will still like it,” Ben concludes.

“Well it sounds like this was very well thought out,” Josh says, equally impressed by but also placating Ben, “Peter Pan it is!”

Josh takes the disk from Ben’s hands and goes to put it in the DVD player. When things are all situated, he turns around to find Maddie sitting on Donna's lap, leaning against Donna’s breasts comfortably, and Ben sitting with his legs on the couch on Donna’s right side (where Josh was originally sitting) leaning against her shoulder. Josh raises his eyebrows and lets out a surprised chuckle.

“So nobody wants to sit with Dad?” he asks in mock exasperation.

“Mommy’s more comfortable,” Ben says and shrugs his shoulders.

“Yeah and she’s nicer,” Maddie says with a devilish grin on her face, trying to get a rise out of her father.

“I’m nice!” Josh exclaims. This is what his life has come to. He used to argue with political masterminds over bills getting through the Senate and the House, and now he argues with his almost three-year-old daughter about choosing Donna over him.

“She didn’t say you were mean, Dad,” Ben interrupts, trying to de-escalate the impending argument so they can start to watch the movie. “She simply said that Mom is a little nicer. She is more comfy than you and she sometimes lets us eat popcorn while we watch,” Ben reasons with his father.

“I’m the one who makes the popcorn,” Josh argues back.

“Yeah, exactly. So you have to keep your lap free so you can hold it and we can sit with Mom,” Ben quips back, not backing down.

“Why can’t we just make your Mom hold it?” Josh babbled, fully aware he is losing an argument to a 6-year-old.

“Well, like I said, because she is more comfortable,” Ben stated calmly, knowing he’s won.

Josh was about to say something else, but Donna stopped him before he could get any more words out.

“Okay boys, I think the seating arrangements are just fine. Dad, why don’t you go make the popcorn for us and I’ll press play after the little commercials, alright?” Donna reasoned.

Josh huffed but ultimately accepted defeat and moved into the kitchen to make the popcorn. 

After he transferred the bagged popcorn into a large bowl for him and his family to share, he strolled back into the living room, but held back for a few seconds to admire his beautiful family. Maddie was sitting on Donna’s lap kicking her legs back and forth periodically, she had a hard time sitting still but still loved cuddling with her Mommy as much as possible. Ben was perfectly content against Donna’s shoulder and enjoyed his proximity to his mother and sister. He was very protective over both of them, and it was one of Josh’s favorite things about his son.

Although Josh was mildly offended that he knew that Donna was both of the children’s favorites, he could completely understand why. She was patient, tender, caring, and she really was more comfortable than him. He smiled, realizing he would gladly take second place to Donna any day.

“Popcorn’s ready. Let’s get our Peter Pan on,” Josh declared grandly with a huge smile on his face.

He sat on the left side of Donna, putting an arm around her shoulders reaching Ben’s head and scratching his beautiful brown curls softly. Donna placed her right arm around Ben’s back and was rubbing small circles on it, while her left arm was protectively placed around Maddie’s stomach, holding her baby girl close to her.

Donna was thankful that her children were still so physically affectionate towards her. She knew this wouldn’t last forever, so nights like this when her husband and babies wanted to be this close to her meant the absolute world.

***

They had almost made it through the entire film successfully, until the scene with Captain Hook and the crocodiles came onto the screen. Madeleine’s eyes grew large as they filled with frightened little tears.

“Benny! You said this wasn’t gonna have scaries in it!” Maddie yelled at her brother, mostly out of fear, but also a little tang of anger.

Ben had a look of guilt on his face that broke both Josh and Donna’s hearts. 

“I’m sorry Maddie, I didn’t think about it,” he lamented. He felt terrible for causing his little sister any fear. “Here hold my hand, and Mommy hold her a little tighter. It’ll be ok Mads, we will protect you, okay?” Ben cooed taking Maddie’s hand in his and gripping it tightly.

There were happy tears forming in Donna’s eyes and she held both Ben and Maddie closer to her. She absolutely adored how close the two of them were, even at such a young age. Ben protected Maddie fiercely, while Maddie idolized Ben and wanted to be just like him. She looked over to Josh, who had a similar expression, both silently sharing with each other how proud of their children they were.

Maddie took a deep breath and held onto Ben’s hand tightly. Josh was proud of how brave Maddie chose to be in this moment and took Maddie’s other hand to give her the support. She was only two, almost three; Josh could understand why crocodiles trying to kill a man would be scary to her, even if they were killing the bad guy. 

The movie finally ended with the family still holding each other close. Donna smiled and looked up at the clock. It was a little past the kid’s bedtimes, but luckily it was a weekend, so at least Ben could sleep in a little more in the morning.

“Alright kiddos, it’s time for us to get ready for bed okay?” Donna sighed. She was a little bit tired herself, and was looking forward to getting to bed a little earlier than her and Josh normally would.

“Okay mama,” Maddie said, hopping off Donna’s lap still holding Ben’s hand.

“I can go with Maddie to help brush her teeth if that’s okay Mommy,” Ben said looking up at Donna with his big brown eyes. 

Donna could tell Ben still felt bad about the movie scaring Maddie, and figured this would help him forgive himself.

“Sure, Ben. That would help Mama out a lot okay?” Donna said. She knelt down to give Ben a kiss on his curly brown head and did the same to Maddie’s blonde locks.

With that, Ben and Maddie made their way up the stairs and into their shared bathroom. Josh picked up the bowl, threw away the excess popcorn that didn’t get eaten and washed out the butter and crumbs from the bowl, putting it in the drying rack. Donna took out the disc from the DVD player, put it back in it’s case, and walked over to the shelve of movies, which he had alphabetized, and put Peter Pan back in the P section. Josh and Donna then gave each other a chaste kiss, told each other “I love you” and made their way up the stairs to tuck their children into bed.

***

It was 2:36 AM and Josh and Donna were sleeping soundly, both laying on their left side with Josh’s arms wrapped tightly around Donna’s middle holding her tightly against his body. Suddenly, little footsteps entered the bedroom and Donna woke up to the sound of her little baby girl crying. 

Maddie came to Donna’s side of the bed and held her arms up for Donna to lift her onto it. Donna released herself from Josh’s grip, which immediately woke Josh up as well. Donna cradled a crying Madeleine and smoothed her hair as Maddie sat on Donna’s legs with her head in Donna’s chest.

“What’s wrong, angel?” Donna cooed. It never gets easier seeing her children cry, and it makes Donna extremely emotional. Josh sat up with Donna and put one arm around her and placed his other hand on Maddie’s back rubbing it up and down.

“Very bad dream,” Maddie said, sobbing into Donna’s chest uncontrollably. She was breathing extremely heavily and fast paced, which immediately worried Josh as these were telling signs of a panic attack for him.

“Alright, Maddie, look at Daddy okay?” Josh calmly stated to Maddie. 

Maddie lifted her head from Donna’s chest and looked into Josh’s eyes, with such vulnerability and fear that Josh felt it in his own chest.

“Okay baby, let’s take some deep breaths together and then we can tell mommy about your bad dream okay?” Josh said soothingly.

Maddie nodded her head and followed Josh as he told her to breathe in and out. After a minute Maddie had calmed down considerably and turned to face Donna to explain.

“I had a dweam that the cwocodiles came to our house,” Maddie said with a sad little pout on her face. It would have been adorable in any other circumstance, but in this case it was more sad than anything.

‘Oh sweetheart, the crocodiles aren’t gonna come into our house. We are completely safe from crocodiles, alright?” Donna reasoned with Maddie, but she still didn’t seem to be buying it.

“No we aren’t Mommy. I know where cwocodiles live, in the water! And guess what? We have a big wiver called the Potomac here and they might come to our house!” Maddie stammered, obviously exasperated to be explaining this to her mother.

“Honey, crocodiles only live in certain waters in certain places. There aren’t any in the Potomac river or anywhere here in Washington okay?” Josh said with a little smile on his face. He had to admit, her logic wasn’t completely off, and for that he was sort of proud.

“Do you promise they aren’t here, Daddy?” Maddie asked, still questioning him.

“I promise. And if any crocodile tries to come to D.C I’ll have uncle Jed call the new President and ban them from ever coming near our house, alright?” Josh insisted.

“Okay, Daddy,” Maddie said, wiping the few remaining tears off her face and giving Josh a big hug to thank him for his comfort.

Josh held onto Maddie for a little while and kissed her forehead. Just as Josh was about to get up and tuck Maddie back into bed, Maddie looked at him with her little pout.

“Daddy, I know you said the cwocs can’t come to our house, but I’m still a little scared. Can I pwease sleep here with you and Mommy?” she begged with her pathetic little eyes and pout that was impossible for Josh to resist.

“Uhhhh,” Josh started, he internally scolded himself for being so weak and becoming putty in the hands of a little two-year-old. He looked at Donna, with a hint of panic in his eyes. “You’re gonna have to ask Mommy.”

Donna rolled her eyes at how helpless Josh was in terms of their daughter. Usually, she would insist that Maddie be tucked into her big girl bed, but she was too tired to argue tonight.

“Alright, but just tonight, okay Mads? Tomorrow we are going to sleep in our big girl and big boy beds alright?” Donna stated.

“Okay, Mommy. We can try again tomorrow,” Maddie smiled. She crawled over to Donna’s side of the bed and snuggled against her mother in the same way that Donna was snuggled against Josh.

Josh, again, rolled his eyes at Donna being chosen over him. He had just offered to outlaw crocodiles even stepping foot into the entire Washington D.C area for this little girl, but she still wanted to cuddle her mom. He was about to protest the whole thing before Maddie said something.

“Daddy?” She started. “Could you cuddle close to Mommy so you could hold both of us?”

Josh smiled and laid back down, holding Donna the same way he was and wrapping his arm around both of them.

“Of course, baby,” He said.

With that, they all finally fell back asleep.

***

At 4:23 AM, tiny footsteps entered their bedroom for the second time that night, and this time it was Josh that was awakened by a distraught, crying Ben. Ben immediately rushed to his father’s side of the bed, jumped up next to him, and held onto him tight for comfort.

“Hey, what’s up buddy? What’s going on?” Josh asked, still a little groggy but mostly awake.

“Sorry for waking you up, Dad,” Ben started.

“Hey bud, it’s alright, just tell me what’s wrong,” Josh whispered, trying not to wake the girls.

“I got up because I had to go to the bathroom,” Ben started, taking a deep breath, “and I was also thirsty and wanted some water but Mommy forgot to give us our waters,” Ben continued. Donna made a habit of giving each child a glass or sippy cup full of water in case they got thirsty in the middle of the night. It was something her parents used to do for her, but she just forgot tonight for whatever reason.

“But it’s okay because I’m a big boy and I can get my own water if I need it,” Ben explained, Josh still not following but letting him finish. “So I was going downstairs to get my cup and decided to check on Maddie to make sure she was okay. I wasn’t gonna wake her, Dad, just check to make sure she was alright. But then she wasn’t in her bed and I got so scared that someone took her away or she got lost,” Ben said and started sobbing again.

It all made sense to Josh now. Of course, being six-years-old (and frankly just being a product of Josh’s DNA), Ben was going to jump to the most drastic of conclusions about why Maddie wasn’t in her bed.

“I was coming in here to wake you and Mommy up and tell you she was gone, but then I realized she was here with you. I just got so scared,” Ben said and aggressively jumped even closer into Josh’s arms, rocking Josh back a bit and ultimately waking Donna.

Donna sat up and realized that Ben was crying too. She looked at Josh with a confused expression, but Josh silently reassured her that he was going to be okay. Still, Donna had to make sure.

“Benny, are you alright, bud?” She cooed, running her hands through his curls.

“Yeah, Mommy. I was just worried about Maddie,” Ben said, still holding onto Josh.

Josh and Donna looked at each other, probably both thinking that Peter Pan was officially banned from this household until further notice. They both silently agreed to extend the same offer that Maddie had to Ben.

“Would it make you feel better if we all slept here tonight, so we can all wake up together?” Josh asked him.

“No, it’s okay, Dad. I’m a big boy, I can go back to my room,” Ben said in mock bravery, but Donna wasn’t convinced.

“Ben, you are a big boy, and the best big brother in the world. Why don’t you just stay here with Mommy and Daddy tonight. We can all try again tomorrow and sleep in our own beds then,” Donna offered soothingly.

Ben looked in Donna’s eyes, a silent thankfulness radiating off of them. He wanted to be brave for his parents and his sister, but was grateful that he could stay with them, even if it was just for tonight.

“Tomorrow we try again?” Ben asked.

Donna smiled. “Tomorrow we try again.”

Donna carefully moved Maddie to the other side of her. Although she squirmed a little, Maddie didn’t fully wake up. Donna laid on her right side with her arm draped around little Maddie. Josh put Ben next to Maddie, so that both children were in the middle of himself and Donna. Ben laid on his back close to Maddie and Josh draped his arm over Ben, grabbed onto Donna’s hand and the family drifted back to sleep.

Tonight they would be together, cuddled up in Josh and Donna’s bed. Tomorrow they’d try again.

**Author's Note:**

> ahhh i loved writing this fic so much. i love the idea with josh and donna with kids. i'm debating turning this into a little series, so let me know if i should because i have a ton of one-shot type ideas with the same family you've been introduced to in this fic :)


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